Q&A | Writer Michael Harris

Brett Josef Grubisic, Special to The Sun08.11.2014

Michael Harris, centre, is as addicted to connectivity as most people, which is why he wrote a book about the need for society to become smarter about its media diets and disconnect occasionally. Photo credit Hudson Hayden.

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The End of Absence:Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection

Michael Harris

HarperCollins

Convenient. Invaluable. Efficient. A key ingredient for success. What’s not to love about gadgets and wireless communication?

One author makes a case for “Plenty” as an answer to that question in his debut non-fiction book, The End of Absence. A born-and-raised Vancouverite and brand new Torontonian, Michael Harris began questioning our close embrace of digital technology when he began to notice how all-consuming it had become in his own daily routine. With a bit of effort, however, the problem can be remedied.

Q: You state that our rapid movement toward online experience is resulting in a qualitative difference in our lives — and for the worse. Will you explain what you mean?

A: I actually don’t believe the technology itself is either good or evil. It’s just dangerous. That means we have to become smart about our media diets just like we need to be smart about our food diets. If we don’t learn to keep from binging on digital content we lose qualities of absence that are key to a rich interior life: such as reverie, daydreaming, solitude.

Q: In some ways your book is an elegy for what you refer to as your “analog childhood.” How do you see previous generations (where TV was watched incessantly, or radio listened to avidly) as somehow preferable to a current one with cellular or Internet technology?

A: Communication technologies — from papyrus to Pinterest — are always working to crowd our lives with content. But I’d argue that the bias has been pushed further than ever before in recent years — we’ve really lost the ability to experience solitude, for example. Even two minutes in the grocery lineup — a moment that we might daydream in — becomes an opportunity to check email. It’s an avalanche, really: when you’ve got 100 hours of YouTube being uploaded for every minute of “real life,” I think we have to admit that something extraordinary and new is taking place.

Q: For your book you include “My Analog August,” an account of a period free of cellphones and the Internet. In retrospect, what has been the most useful “lesson” from that experiment?

A: That was a super-hard month, but the biggest lesson, to be honest, came when I went back online. That day I became a total zombie and it resulted in a big fight with my boyfriend. Lesson: I can never stop thinking about what or whom I need to be connecting with.

Q: Granting that technology’s place in our lives is here to stay and likely to increase, do you see an attempt at unplugging as either a fruitless or rearguard actions? A disadvantageous one?

A: Not at all. I think we’ve hit the fast-food stage of online technology and we’re going to learn to balance it with moments of solitude. That’s my hope anyway. I think the most important step we can take is establishing media studies programs in universities and high schools. My alma mater, the University of British Columbia, is finally launching a media studies program this fall, by the way. Which is awesome.

Q: You recently moved to the fourth largest metropolitan area in North America, which might surprise readers of your book. For those pursuing careers and enjoying city amenities, do you see a possible balance between city-dwelling and finding absence?

A: I think you’re right: People who hear about my book sometimes think I’m a Luddite or a hermit. But actually I was drawn to the subject precisely because I’m neither. I’m very tech-happy and very addicted to constant connectivity. That’s why I wanted to write the book in the first place. Absence can be found anywhere. We can find it by batch-processing our email instead of replying to every ping from our BlackBerry. Or we can find it by telling our kids that the Internet is closed for Christmas holidays.

Q: “Experiment. Live a little,” you write in a concluding chapter. What kinds of experimentation and living do you recommend for those disturbed by the connected lifestyle?

A: Taking an Analogue August isn’t a bad way to start — choose a weekend in August and disconnect for 48 hours. (It’s much, much harder than you think.) Or try duct-taping one end of an old spiral cord to your iPhone and the other end to your kitchen counter: instant vacation to 1985! The point is that we’re running the show, not our gadgets. Every time we use them, we should be making choices. If you feel a sense of anxiety about something as meaningless as checking your Twitter feed, then the ping-ping-pings are winning.

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